


Unrequited?

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Best Friends, First Kiss, High School, M/M, Shakespeare references for no apparent reason, Unrequited Love, or not lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-02
Updated: 2013-03-02
Packaged: 2017-12-04 00:57:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Zayn and Liam somehow become Viola and Count Orsino...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unrequited?

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a prompt from abbyliciousness on Tumblr:
> 
> Fluffy Ziam, Zayn tells Liam he hates unrequited love and he loves Liam, Liam apologizes, cuddling on a couch, kissing, making out? Not dating

Zayn and Liam walked through the back door into the kitchen, quickly beginning to rid themselves of their ties and blazers due to the intense June heat. Summer had arrived early that year and it was a constant irritation to them that their teachers insisted they couldn't flout the uniform rules at all despite the weather, so it wasn't until they were back home that they could strip off the uncomfortable excess garments. 

Passing his best friend a bottle of water from the fridge, Zayn poured a jet of liquid from his own bottle into his mouth and then frowned a little when Liam began tipping it over his head while leaning slightly over the sink to catch the droplets that weren't absorbed by his hair. 

"What the hell are you doing?" His voice was light and unserious as he pretended to castigate Liam, who simply shrugged with that blissful smile of his still ever present on his face. 

"Well unlike you, Zee, I don't care more about my hair than not overheating!" joked Liam with a wink that was clearly meant simply amicable, yet that still managed to make Zayn's insides feel slightly mushy and he had to turn away so that his small blush wouldn't be seen. 

It was embarrassing to him that such a small gesture could elicit such a reaction from him, however there didn't seem to be anything he could do about it. For about a year now he had been trying to deny the fact that he was attracted to his male friend but recently he'd been starting to accept himself more along with realising that not only did he have feelings for Liam, he was actually slightly in love with him. And that was more than slightly scary. 

So it was with careful control that he navigated his way past Liam in the narrow hallway and ushered him into his living room without giving in to his instinctual urge to pull him close and kiss him like he always seemed to have a desire to do those days. Plopping themselves down on the sofa they removed several books from their schoolbags and began on the tedious task of homework. The two of them were looking through their English revision in preparation for an upcoming exam, and whereas Zayn was studying various poems that term, Liam had been set the task of taking notes on the Shakespeare play he'd been reading, which just happened to be Twelfth Night. 

After half an hour of jokey banter and the minimal amount of actual work, Liam looked up at Zayn to ask a question he most definitely hadn't been expecting. 

"What's unrequited love?" 

For a moment Zayn forgot how to talk: his mouth opened and closed a couple of times as he tried to convince himself that the question had nothing to do with the feelings he had for Liam and more to do with the themes of the text the younger boy had been studying. 

"I, well, unrequited love is where one person l-loves another," Zayn was suddenly hyper aware of how close he was to Liam on the sofa and it took everything he had to will himself not to falter too much, although he was certain he was being way too damn obvious anyway. "But the love is... not returned." 

Having managed to haltingly finish his explanation, Zayn turned away quickly to bury his head in his notes and hide his how evidently uncomfortable he was to be talking about something he had such painful yet secret experience of. However Liam wasn't finished yet. 

"So how does that relate to the play then?" If he hadn't been too busy feeling vaguely mortified then Zayn might have realised that the question was deliberately worded to make him speak more about the topic. But there was no way that Liam could be playing with him because he wanted him to admit anything, was there? 

"Well, you see Viola is in love with the Count but it's impossible for her to tell him." Not wanting to look rude or, worse, suspicious, Zayn looked up and his eye was immediately caught by Liam's. The older boy still looked just as serious as he had done before, but maintained their gaze quite intensely while Zayn continued with his second explanation of the afternoon. "Because Orsino thinks he's in love with Olivia and - well, because she's dressed as a boy and..." his voice slowed down, seemingly along with time itself, as the tension between them built until Zayn could hardly stand it. "And boys weren't supposed to be in love with each other. Because it was wrong." 

And with that he managed to tear away from his friend’s gaze and the moment was over as soon as it had begun. “I hate unrequited love,” muttered Zayn, then felt like clamping a hand to his mouth when he realised he’d actually spoken those words aloud instead of just thinking them. But to his surprise Liam simply nodded in agreement. 

“Me too,” his voice was slow and carefully considered. “I mean, Viola should have been able to tell the Count she was in love with him, even if she had actually been a boy.” Zayn could hardly believe what he was hearing – surely Liam realised what the connotations behind their conversation were, and yet he almost seemed to be encouraging it. 

“You know,” finally looking up, Zayn didn’t dare fix his gaze on the brown eyes opposite him so instead found himself staring rather intently at his lips which looked so tempting but forbidden as Liam continued. “In the play, they end up getting married after all. Even though she was dressed as a boy.” 

Suddenly Zayn could take it no longer as his patience snapped and he sat upright to address his friend who was causing him such confusion. “Is this an analogy?” he demanded but Liam shrugged, his placid smile growing almost imperceptibly wider and his eyes still firmly fixed on Zayn’s face. 

“Why should it be?” 

“Because I love you!” 

There was a terrible, terrifying silence in the room that allowed time for every single worst case scenario of what could happen next to run through Zayn’s head before they were overruled by the desperate need to say something, anything to diffuse the tension. “I’ve loved you for years and it’s unrequited because I know you don’t like me that way and I shouldn’t love you because it’s wrong and anyway you don’t swing that way...” 

“Hang on,” strangely enough Liam’s voice didn’t seem angry or even pitying (which would have been worse) as it cut across his babbling and the two of them seemed to be closer together all of a sudden, their foreheads dangerously close to touching. “Who says I ‘don’t like you that way’?” 

This was almost too much for Zayn to take in: his mind whirred through endless possibilities of what could have happened to turn his wildest fantasies into reality. 

“What do you mean?” he spluttered eventually, hoping to God that he hadn’t somehow got the wrong end of the stick. Glancing down at where their knees were subconsciously knocking playfully against each other, as was a habit of theirs, it seemed to take Liam a few seconds to summon up the courage to say it, despite his previous confidence; however then he looked back up into Zayn’s eyes and broke the silence once more. 

“I love you too.” 

“What?” A hundred different emotions were running through Zayn’s head at the same time: disbelief, unabashed hope, giddy delirium, and, strangely enough, a slight sense of anger. The latter being the feeling he was most familiar with, he chose to latch onto it with his reply, although the wide grin that was threatening to break across his face served to slightly lessen the effect. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted you to fucking say that?” 

Liam seemed honestly apologetic and quickly started to try and explain himself before being hushed by a now calm Zayn. “God, I’m so sorry, I had no idea – I mean, I wanted to say something but I thought you were...” 

“It’s fine, babe.” The nickname he’d been using in private for years (they knew better than to risk rumours by saying anything of the sort at school) suddenly seemed to have more meaning and Liam smiled broadly at its use. “You’ve said it now. And so have I. That’s enough for me – in fact, that’s pretty much perfect!” 

They seemed to have migrated yet closer together in the past few minutes, so that now there was little space between them on the sofa as Zayn reached over to where Liam’s hand was laying on his lap and took hold of it incredibly softly and gently, as though scared that if he grasped it too hard it would crumble to pieces in his grip. This simple yet meaningful gesture made Liam grin wider than ever, then bite his lip as a thought came to him that he was unsure whether he was allowed to express. 

“C-can I kiss you now?” 

The earnest yet uncertainly nervous way he asked the question was undoubtedly one of the cutest things Zayn had ever seen, and he was reminded once again of why he loved Liam so much. Instead of answering he simply moved his head until their lips were barely an inch apart; their eyes bored into each other with a newfound level of adoration and empathy that had never been present even when they were best friends; and Zayn could feel Liam’s warm breath against mouth. 

“Yes,” he whispered, however it wasn’t really necessary for Liam closed the gap between them almost instantly by pressing their lips together in a manner that felt so much better than the awkward embraces they had endured with previous girlfriends over the years. 

As they started to move together, Zayn as the more experienced of the two automatically taking the lead while Liam followed happily, that feeling of relief that he hadn’t forgotten how to kiss properly and amazement that it was happening at all was replaced by shivers being sent down his spine at the pure euphoria that came from finally being able to do what he’d been dreaming about for so long. It was their first kiss however Zayn wasn’t hesitant in putting his hand around Liam’s waist to pull him yet closer, so that their bodies were pressed almost as tight as their lips. 

Without warning or any resistance on Liam’s part, Zayn began caressing his plump and rather sensitive lips with his tongue. They opened almost immediately to let him deepen the kiss. Suddenly finding a new confidence in his actions, Liam decided to take control (which Zayn had to admit was a turn on, not that he would ever say it aloud) by using his height and weight advantage to manoeuvre their bodies until Zayn was lying flat on the couch while the younger boy propped himself up on his elbows above him, the two of them still kissing now more passionately. Zayn’s hands roamed over his back, still struggling slightly to believe that this was actually happening. 

Just then Liam pulled away, but quickly rested his forehead on Zayn’s so they could look deep into each other’s eyes – despite having known each other for years it still felt as though there was suddenly so much more to learn about one another through touches and glances that would once have been meaningless but now meant everything. Panting a little from the lack of oxygen during their embrace, Liam kissed the tip of what he supposed was his boyfriend’s nose before speaking. 

“What’s the opposite of unrequited love?” For a moment Zayn just stared at him, confused by the question that had seemingly come out of the blue. 

“Requited love, you div,” he eventually told him in an adoring fashion which made Liam laugh at his own slight stupidity at not seeing the obvious. 

“Well then that’s what we’ve got,” stated Liam with unusual certainty after his giggles had died down. “Requited love.” 

“Forbidden love,” he was reminded by the voice below him. “Unspoken love, unconventional love, unaccepted love...” Zayn’s rather pessimistic descriptions were cut off by another kiss which was shorter but no less affectionate. 

“It’s still love,” murmured Liam into his friend’s mouth, making Zayn groan a little before blushing and nodding as best he could with another face so close to his. 

“Requited love,” he repeated slowly, and then lifted his head from the cushion a little to kiss Liam more gently and sweetly than ever before. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I don't know what this is either so don't look at me. It's kind of cute though... right??? ;)


End file.
